Welcome back everyone! Three days into Ancient Egypt and Yami's already dug himself into a deep hole. Let's see how/if he gets out of it shall we?

Enjoy!

Aknamkanon forced himself to look at his son. His arms had been bound behind his back and the guards kept the ends of the ropes like leads. It had to be humiliating, being bound like a common criminal and he was understandably terrified, though he tried to put on a brave face.

His son looked at him with his large, fear-filled eyes, begging for answers. The extraction of a Ka was never pleasant and usually reserved for hardened criminals, and now they were using it as a precaution on a twelve year old boy. Perhaps if he explained it, his son would relax.

"What is going on, Father?" he asked, unable to hide the tremor in his voice.

The pharaoh took a deep breath, and explained, "Son, your extreme change in behavior these past few days have been worrisome. My court has looked into your soul and found darkness that was not there before. We fear a Ka beast has taken root in your soul, and we wish to extract it before it causes you any harm."

The youth's eyes grew wide and Aknamkanon could almost see the chain of thoughts that ran through his head as he processed the information. First, inexplicably, was relief. The second was a calculating thought, as if it perhaps answered an unspoken question but simultaneously raised more. Next was curiosity as he eyed the Items his inner court wore suspiciously as well as the giant stone tablet that had been wheeled in. Finally came the realization of what was about to happen and his face filled with horror.

"And what will happen to me if you are wrong?" his son challenged, eyes darting between the Item Bearers and the stone tablet.

Aknamkanon couldn't answer that question. He had no idea what would happen if this ritual were performed on somebody lacking the dark Ka beast.

Akhenaden stepped forward, "Please lower your mental shields, my Prince. It will make things easier on all of us."

A change came over the prince as he raised his head defiantly and widened his stance defensively. The look in his eye was not that of a scared child, nor was it one of an evil monster, but it was dangerous. The prince had the eyes of a warrior and Aknamkanon had the sudden feeling that they had cornered a lion that was ready to strike.

"If you want into my mind, you will have to break my defenses yourself," he hissed, struggling against his bonds. The guards pulled on the ends they held, tightening their hold and control, but the boy did not pay them any mind, "My mind is my haven, and you wish to callously invade it."

At the look on the prince's face, all of them were suddenly very glad he had been restrained, they only hoped they could be forgiven when all of this was over. Akhenaden's expression hardened. They had tried the nice way, but if the prince didn't want to cooperate, then they would have to proceed anyway.

The Eye shone brightly and at first it seemed like a battle of wills between the priest and the prince, but slowly, the prince's expression became tortured and he screamed as if in great pain as darkness started flowing around him. Aknamkanon did not want to admit to himself what he was witnessing: so much darkness had burrowed its way inside his son and taken root. He was just glad that they were tackling the problem now before it became too late. But how had they not noticed before now?

"Priest Seto! This is more powerful than we suspected, I will need your help!"

The young priest ran over, Rod shining just as brightly as the Eye in an effort to reveal and contain the Ka beast within the prince. Over on the side, Ahmed, Kalim and Shimon were also attempting to reign in the overflowing darkness that seemed to flow endlessly and still hadn't taken on a form.

Isis suddenly gasped as the Necklace gave her a warning, but it was too late. Before she could get a word out, the Shadows exploded, sending the ones closest to the prince flying backward and the ones farther away having to brace themselves against the shockwave. The stone tablet that had been brought in broke as the Shadows lashed out at it. The guards stood no chance against the storm, the Shadows devouring their souls without remorse.

In the middle of the chaos stood the prince, his bindings broken and standing tall as Shadows whipped around. His expression caused them all great worry; bloodlust was in his eyes and his eyes were set on them.

In the middle of it all, Aknamkanon noticed something that the others missed in their surprise and fear: his son stood with power and confidence. The Shadows that were whipping around and destroying the things around the room were also caressing him gently. They danced around him as willing servants ready to respond to his command the moment he gave it, ready to defend their master. How on earth did he gain such power over the Shadows, especially without an Item?

His son took a step forward, eyes burning red. The Item Bearers readied themselves for defense as he took a second step towards them. His arm started to rise, wrapped lovingly with eager Shadows, but on his third step he suddenly collapsed, like a puppet with its strings cut.

As quickly as it began, the storm of Shadows disappeared leaving behind seven stunned adults, several soulless guards, and one unconscious child.

Isis was the first to run over to the still form and roll him over. Aknamkanon was not far behind her, dropping to his knees across from her, face full of concern and regret. The others gathered around anxiously, but respectfully keeping their distance.

"Isis," Aknamkanon choked out, "Is he-? Will he-?"

"He is alive, Pharaoh," Isis assured as she examined the prince, "It is his mind I am worried about; to control the Shadows without an Item, it must take a toll on the user. The Necklace is telling me he will recover, but I don't know how long it will be."

The pharaoh gathered his son in his arms and stood up. "I will take him up to his room. Isis will come with me. The rest of you see if you can figure out what happened here tonight and report to me in the morning."

The court bowed as Aknamkanon swept out of the room, with Isis on his heels. The prince did not stir even once. If Aknamkanon wasn't worried sick about the state of his son, he would say this was reminiscent of when the prince was younger and would fall asleep almost anywhere and would have to be carried to bed.

The pharaoh remained silent the entire journey to his son's room, his expression sending the late night servants of the palace scurrying away. Isis had trouble matching his stride, but managed to grab a servant and sent along a message for Mahaddo to report to the prince's room immediately.

The prince's room was spotless, as expected, but it sent another wave of guilt through Aknamkanon. His son must have been ready to sleep after a long day, or at least continue thinking about whatever he had been thinking about when he found him in the garden. Oh gods, he had sent guards to arrest his son! Those guards had paid the price, and Aknamkanon was sure that if he were not wearing the Puzzle at the time, he would have too.

"Pharaoh," Isis' quiet voice broke him from his thoughts, "Mahaddo should be here soon to care for the prince. You should lay him down. I will get Akhenaden in the morning and we will research any side effects of controlling the Shadows without an Item; if such knowledge exists, we will find it."

"He didn't just control the Shadows, Isis," Aknamkanon finally whispered, laying his son in his bed, "He commanded them. They were willing to follow his commands if he spoke them. They would have turned against us if he had asked."

"I thought maybe I was imagining things," Isis admitted, no louder than her king, "What does it mean?"

"I wish I knew."

Yami woke back in his bed. He stared up at his canopy, wishing that what he thought he remembered had happened last night really didn't.

"You're awake!" an eager voice beside him exclaimed, startling him. He didn't realize that he wasn't alone.

Yami looked over to see Mahaddo sitting next to his bed. Confused, Yami pushed himself up slowly.

"What happened?" he asked.

"I'm not sure," Mahaddo answered, "Your father and Isis brought you here two nights ago and told me to stay with you. Isis has been in and out checking on you. Mana's been asking about you at every opportunity. Do you remember anything?"

Yami ignored the fact that more time had passed than he thought, and instead turned his thoughts to what happened. He remembered eating dinner with his father and then retiring to his chambers for some well earned thinking time. Some time later, the guards had entered his room and, apologetically, arrested and escorted him to the lower levels of the palace. He remembered seeing his father, six others who possessed Millenium Items, and a large, blank stone tablet that reminded him of what Yugi and Shadi had found in his soul room when Shadi had invaded just after Duelist Kingdom. He remembered his arms being tied behind his back as he looked towards his father for an explanation.

His father had mentioned something about a monster taking over his soul, and how they wanted to remove it before it was too late. At first, Yami was intrigued. Was that the original purpose of the Millennium Items? That intrigue quickly faded into horror as he realized what the process likely entailed and that he knew for a fact that there was no monster overtaking him. He knew that what his father's Court likely sensed was his incomplete soul and misunderstood it.

Then they wanted him to let them into his mind willingly. As if Yami would let that happen! All he remembered after that was pain; agony as his soul room was being pulled apart brick by brick. He felt alright now and nothing felt out of place in his soul room anymore.

Yami grit his teeth. Those fools! Didn't they know what they were doing? None of them seemed to have the same level of control over their Items and the Shadows that his modern day court did. They did not seem to have any idea what soul rooms were, or if they did, they seemed to be under the impression that they did not vary from person to person. Then again, his court had fifty years of experience behind them while this court had maybe ten.

"Are you alright?" Mahaddo's voice broke through his thoughts. He was gripping Yami's arm rather tightly. "Do you remember what happened?"

"Yes," Yami growled, glaring towards the door.

As if on cue, Pharaoh Aknamkanon walked through the door, closely followed by Isis. Mahaddo released his arm as he stood to bow respectfully. It went unnoticed as both faltered when they saw the look on Yami's face. Aknamkanon recovered his wits first.

"Thank you, Mahaddo, you may go. I have some things to discuss with *****.

Yami ignored the static noise that was becoming synonymous with his name and turned his focus to Mahaddo, who had turned to leave.

"No," Yami commanded, getting to his feet. Right now he did not trust his father, nor Isis, and Mahaddo's presence was comforting. At least Mahaddo's actions leading up to this were innocent and well-meaning. He had no way of knowing what the pharaoh would do. "He stays."

"Son-"

"Don't," Yami spat, cutting off his father, "Especially after what you did."

Aknamkanon paused a beat and nodded for Mahaddo to stay before continuing what he was going to say, "We would like to better explain why we did what we did, and also ask you what happened at the end."

"You thought I was under the influence of a monster, and apparently the best way to deal with that, was to tear open my mind and start ripping apart my soul!"

"I - you - what?" the pharaoh sputtered.

"I am more attuned to myself than you think," Yami said darkly, "You nearly had my very soul destroyed."

"That was not our intention!" Aknamkanon denied vehemently, bordering on anger. There was only so much disrespect the pharaoh would take, even from his own son, but Yami was hedging on the events of last night to curb at least some of that anger.

"Then what was?" Yami challenged. Mahaddo shifted uncomfortably behind him.

Aknamkanon appeared taken aback by Yami's unwillingness to back down. As pharaoh, not many would dare to challenge him, much less a twelve-year-old child. Yami had to assume that he would have usually been subservient and obedient. Too bad Yami hadn't backed down from anything in half a century and stood firm. The pharaoh threw a helpless glance at Isis under his son's glare.

Yami opened his mouth, intent on telling him off for having to rely on a seer in order to deal with his own son, but Isis intervened before he could say anything.

"Prince ****, what do you know of Ka beasts?"

Yami stared at her, anger forgotten for a moment at the unexpected question. "Only that they are a type of monster that apparently tries to take over a person's soul."

"Ka beasts can be monsters that invade a soul, but sometimes they are born from darkness that a human holds in their heart until it begins to fester and grow. The beasts are as unique as a person, most of the time, it is a harmonious relationship. My Ka is Spiria, whom I can summon using the Millennium Necklace."

"We thought perhaps yours took the form of the maze," Aknamkanon offered weakly.

Yami crossed his arms, "Well it wasn't. There is no beast in me or controlling me, and what you nearly destroyed was my so- mind." He wanted to say 'soul room', but he wasn't sure that term was introduced yet and he really didn't need to make himself stand out any more than he already was.

Was it too late to say the "dream" he had was a gift from the gods which gave him knowledge about certain things?

"We didn't realize..."

"That much is obvious," Yami scoffed, glaring at his father.

"That actually leads us to our other point of concern," Isis spoke up, eyes darting warily between the pharaoh and the prince. "Is there anything else you remember from that night?"

"You mean like my father arresting me?" Yami spat, voice dripping with contempt.

"After you were brought down," Isis clarified.

Yami's eyes flicked to her, suddenly wary. A memory came rushing to the forefront of his mind as he thought about the rest of the evening. The Shadows had not been happy he was being hurt, they broke his bonds and wrapped themselves protectively around him. The power was intoxicating, either from his age or the fact he did not have the Puzzle to channel them. Perhaps it was some combination of the two.

He couldn't remember anything after that part though. His raw mind had wanted to punish the people who had hurt him, but clearly that had not happened as two of them were standing in front of him. Hopefully he didn't hurt anyone.

"What else happened?" Yami asked cautiously.

Aknamkanon looked uncomfortable as Isis took over explanations, "There was some kind of adverse reaction. When the process started, we noticed a lot of darkness-"

"-Which we will need to have a conversation about later-" Aknamkanon interrupted, fixing his son with a stare. Yami's heart leapt to his throat. How on earth could he explain that?

"-and it just kept flowing," Isis continued as if the Pharaoh hadn't spoken, "never taking on a form. We had never seen anything like it. Before we knew it, the Shadows intervened and took over you. The guards are soulless, and if not for our Items, we would be too."

Yami paled. Oh gods, he had attacked his own father! He had actually sent the Shadows on a mission to seek out souls and consume them!

The buzzing noise was back, but Yami ignored it as he sat back on his bed. How could this happen? He had more control of the Shadows than that! Even without the Puzzle. More importantly though, how was he going to get the souls of those guards back? There was no Yami no Game to play and no way for him to actually ask the Shadows to return them. Well, not without extreme measures anyway, and there was no way Yami was going to willingly go through that again.

"Prince!"

"Huh?" Yami's head snapped up. He really needed to stop spacing out.

Mahaddo was in front of him now, worry written all over his face. Aknamkanon and Isis were in the background wearing identical expressions.

"I was asking if you were alright," Mahaddo hid a sigh of relief that the prince was actually responding now, "You turned pale and weren't responding. None of us know the effects of what happened to you, so please don't ignore us if you can help it."

"I'm sorry, I was thinking," Yami said softly, "Can you fix whatever I did?"

"The damage that was done to the chamber is easy enough to fix," Aknamkanon tried to assure, but Yami wasn't having it.

"The guards," he corrected firmly, "Can you return their souls?"

Aknamkanon and Isis exchanged a heavy look. This conversation was not going to go well.

And there we go. This was the chapter I teased at earlier and honestly, it was one of my favorites so far. To those still wondering what all that darkness was, well Yami is the dark-half of the soul of Atem and so of course his soul would leak nothing but darkness. Nothing evil or nefarious here.

This is where the update slow-down comes back to bite us in the butt. Hopefully it won't take too long, but we all know how often I've said that before.

Please review!